Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale: Two girls sealed in tower. Girls free themselves from tower. Girls flee from freaky wolf-man-thing. Girls kick butt in their own way. Girls develop maturity or brains. The end.

Freakonomics (Re-read) - Levitt: In which we learn that sumo wrestlers cheat (and so do school teachers), abortion reduces crime, and economics can be a fascinating subject. Witty, sardonic and straightfoward, 'tis a fun book for all. Yes, even you.

The Scent of Shadows - Vicki Pettersson: In which we learn that bad guys get crappy titles, like the Tulpa. That just sucks, really. We also learn other things, but they are overshadowed by the whole Tulpa-name thing.

Working for the Devil - Lilith Saintcrow: In which we learn Dante is a woman who raises the dead and beds with hot demons. Oh, and the devil is like her pimp. Or psuedo-boss. Much to Dante's chagrin.

Dead as a Doornail - Charlaine Harris: In which we learn Sookie Stockhouse, telepath and barmaid extraordinairre, is pretty cool. She's also trying to figure out who's shooting shapeshifters, burning down her home, and saying rude things in their minds about her. I heart Sookie.

Definitely Dead - Charlaine Harris: In which we learn Sookie Stackhouse manages to get into a lot of trouble. Vampires, werewolves, were-vampire-wolf-things plus a vampire-engagement gone horribly wrong make this campy series all the more fun.

Guilty Pleasures - Hamilton: In which we like the main character but are annoyed at all the animal sacrifices.

My ALA challenge books in January

Alice in Rapture, Sort of - Phyllis Reynolds Naylor : In which we continue the saga of Alice as she blunders through her first romance. Alice is engaging, precious and adorable. Motherless and raised by a clueless father, Alice finds mother figures everywhere (including a next door neighbor who holds her hair back during a vomit-session).

Gossip Girls - Cecily Von Ziegesar: In which we wonder why we are reading this book. And wonder more when we realize there are like ten other books in the series. Then we are happy, because the last third of the teen-drama is actually quite fun. Alls well that ends well. Except for the 'i have to read another ten books' fact.

In other book news, I have fourteen books on hold. FOURTEEN. That's crazy.